Additional nutrients improve immune response to influenza vaccination in the elderly.

2002 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Elderly adults who took a complete nutritional supplement for 7 months mounted stronger antibody responses to influenza immunization compared with adults who did not receive the supplement.

"The impact of influenza infection on morbidity and mortality in the elderly population can be severe," commented Wendeline Wouters-Wesseling and colleagues at Numico Research B.V., and Wageningen and Erasmus Universities in the Netherlands. "Influenza vaccination is not very effective in this age group, which is potentially related to impaired nutritional status."

The investigators supplied 19 adults, aged 65 and older, with a placebo or a complete nutritional supplement drink that contained vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants for 7 months. Before receiving an influenza vaccine and again 28 days afterward, the subjects underwent testing for levels of antibodies specific to influenza strains A/Sydney/5/97 (SY), A/Beijing/262/95 (BE), and B/Yamanashi/166/98 (YA).

The mean increase in anti-SY antibody titers after vaccination was significantly greater in the supplement group than in the placebo group (2.76 vs. 1.91, respectively) (Effect of a complete nutritional supplement on antibody response to influenza vaccine in elderly people. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 2002;57(9):M563-M566).

In contrast, no significant differences were found between the two groups of subjects in the vaccination-induced increase of BE- or YA-specific antibody titers. The percentage of patients achieving protective antibody levels did not differ between the ...